The Babri Masjid, a 16th-century mosque in the Indian city of Ayodhya, was destroyed on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations.

In the 16th century a Mughal commander, Mir Baqi, had built a mosque, known as the Babri Masjid at a site identified by some Hindus as Ram Janmabhoomi, or the birthplace of Rama.

[2][3] In the 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to Rama at the site, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its political voice.

This site is often believed to be at the place where the Babri Masjid stood in the city of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh: historical evidence to support this belief is scarce.

[7][9] In the 1980s, the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) began a campaign for the construction of a temple dedicated to Rama at the site, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as its political voice.

[7][9] This decision was endorsed by Indian National Congress politician Rajiv Gandhi, at that time the Prime Minister of India, who sought to regain support from Hindus he had lost over the Shah Bano controversy.

[6][7] Nonetheless, the Congress lost the 1989 general election, and the BJP's strength in parliament grew from 2 members to 88, making its support crucial to the new government of V. P. Singh.

[11] On 6 December 1992, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates organised a rally involving 150,000 VHP and BJP supporters at the site of the disputed structure.

The mob set upon the building with axes, hammers, and grappling hooks, and within a few hours, the entire structure, made from mud and chalk, was levelled.

Rao in his book Ayodhya 6 December 1992 wrote that the demolition was a "betrayal" by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, who repeatedly assured the Congress government that the mosque would be protected.

[18] The report notes that at this time several BJP leaders made "feeble requests to the kar sevaks to come down... either in earnest or for the media's benefit".

"[19] In a March 2005 book, former Intelligence Bureau head Maloy Krishna Dhar claimed that the Babri mosque demolition was planned 10 months in advance by top leaders of the RSS, BJP and VHP, and criticised the manner in which the then Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao handled the issue.

The author claimed that there was silent agreement that Ayodhya offered "a unique opportunity to take the Hindutva wave to the peak for deriving political benefit.

[21] In protest against the arrest of karsevaks after the demolition, a man later identified as Satish Chandra Pandey attempted to hijack Indian Airlines Flight 810 from Lucknow to Delhi on 22 January 1993.

Despite this, the ensuing riots spread to cities like Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Delhi, Bhopal and several others, eventually resulting in over 2000 deaths, mainly Muslim.

[14] The Mumbai Riots alone, which occurred in December 1992 and January 1993 and which the Shiv Sena played a big part in organising, caused the death of around 900 people, and estimated property damage of around ₹ 9,000 crore ($3.6 billion).

[36][37] In April 2017, a special CBI court framed criminal conspiracy charges against Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar, and several others.

[38] On 30 September 2020, the court acquitted all the 32 accused including L. K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and several others in the case on account of inconclusive evidence.

[43] The Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned the Indian ambassador to lodge a formal complaint, and promised to appeal to the United Nations and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to pressure India to protect the rights of Muslims.

[46][47][48] The aftermath of the violence forced the Bangladeshi Hindu community to curtail the celebrations of Durga Puja in 1993 while calling for the destroyed temples to be repaired and investigations be held.

[46] At its summit meeting in Abu Dhabi, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) strongly condemned the Babri Masjid demolition.

[50] In Al-Ain, 250 kilometres (160 mi) east of Abu Dhabi, angry mobs set fire to the girls' wing of an Indian school.

[56] Lajja (Shame), a 1993 novel by Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin, was partially inspired by the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh that intensified after the demolition of the Babri Masjid.